Reading Sanford Meisner’s book on acting. He says that it takes 20 years to master acting. Not sure I would agree with that. I suspect it takes 20 years to master acting only if you’re 20 years old or younger when you begin and you never pursue any other career but acting

So much of this business draws upon personal experience and an understanding of the human condition. Someone who approaches acting after age 35, having worked as a schoolteacher or oil rig engineer or insurance salesman or whatever, having experienced years of success and failure, triumph and tragedy, has a far richer inner life to draw upon in creating a character than those who are just starting out in life and career.

I know I feel way ahead of the game when I act, in part because I have a stronger sense of self. I have a more mature approach to my studies. I can judge when a classroom exercise has lasting value and when I’m simply indulging the instructor in the latest fad.

And my acting is beginning to feel true – acting with the emotions, not the intellect; achieving that “public solitude” Stanislavsky talks about. I feel like I’m making rapid progress.

Two weeks to filming Clear and Sunny Skies. I can hardly wait.